An assessment of knowledge and uptake of COVID-19 vaccine among the school going students at Cox Bazar in Bangladesh

Abstract

Adequate knowledge about COVID-19 vaccination among school students is necessary after the re-opening of schools to ensure that the students stay protected from COVID-19. BRAC has implemented interventions in the selected schools of Cox’s Bazar to increase knowledge and awareness about COVID-19. The purpose of this research was to evaluate the knowledge of school students about COVID-19 vaccination and the uptake rate of the vaccines among students who have received BRAC intervention at Cox’s Bazar. The sample size calculated for this study was 1546. The study used the descriptive statistics and logistic regression to assess the knowledge and uptake rate of vaccines and the associated factors with vaccine uptake among the students. The study found that 94% of the surveyed students knew about the COVID-19 vaccine, and 92% of them knew accurately about the vaccine doses. Moreover, 91% of the surveyed students have knowledge about the vaccine registration process. In the case of vaccine uptake, 97% of the surveyed students have taken a minimum of one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, and both male and female students have nearly equal uptake percentages. The logistic regression showed that the student’s age, the education of mother, the upazila (sub-district), the student's knowledge about vaccination, and the student’s knowledge about the vaccination process are significant factors associated with vaccine uptake. The knowledge about vaccines among students and the vaccine uptake rate were satisfactory. The results of this study demonstrated that the BRAC intervention to create awareness among students in schools has been successful in terms of COVID-19 vaccination.